Mt. Vernon is 0-5 against Belleville West since May of 2015 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Saturday. The Mt. Vernon Rams will head out on the road to challenge the Belleville West Maroons at 10:00 a.m.
On Friday, it was a hard-fought game, but Mt. Vernon had to settle for a 7-5 defeat against Nashville. Mt. Vernon has now taken an 'L' in back-to-back games.
Matthew McKinney led a balanced group of hitters, scoring a run while going 3-for-3. Another player making a difference was Trevor McClure, who scored two runs and stole two bases while going 2-for-4.
Meanwhile, Belleville West had already won four in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 11 runs), and they went ahead and made it five on Friday. They narrowly escaped with a victory as the team sidled past the Bulldogs 2-1.
Jake Stedman spent all seven innings on the mound, and it's clear why: he surrendered only one earned run on two hits and racked up six Ks.
On the hitting side, Belleville West's win was truly a team effort as three different players contributed at least one hit. One of them was Ethan Hofmeister, who scored a run while going 1-for-2.
Mt. Vernon's loss dropped their record down to 12-16. As for Belleville West, their victory ended a four-game drought on the road and puts them at 18-9.
Mt. Vernon might still be hurting after the 10-0 defeat they got from Belleville West in their previous meeting back in May of 2023. Can Mt. Vernon avenge their loss or is history doomed to repeat itself? We'll find out soon enough.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
